Design Lead (LDN)

Phantom is seeking a Design Lead to join our team. You will bring deep expertise, leadership, and a relentless drive for craft excellence to help guide our projects.

You have moved beyond just perfecting your own output to elevating the standards, skills, and success of the team around you. As a Design Lead, you will act as a bridge between high-level strategy and pixel-perfect execution, ensuring that every piece of work we ship is not only beautiful but effective, innovative, and distinctly Phantom.

Phantom is a technology focused and creatively driven company, dedicated to elevating brands in the digital realm.

Started by our four co-founders in 2013, we’ve grown into a company 100+ Phantoms strong, with locations spanning across two hemispheres (our other studio in Auckland).

Our partners choose us because of the collaboration, innovation and creativity we all bring to every project. We choose our clients because they’re brands we love to work with, who in turn inspire us to make work we love.

We work on everything from large scale campaigns to creating immersive digital experiences and developing long lasting products. If you’re somebody who enjoys a new challenge each day and is looking to create the best work of your career, Phantom is your place.

You are a recognised authority in your craft with a proven track record of leading multi-disciplinary projects. You balance the hands-on mastery of a senior creative with the heads-up vision of a leader. You are comfortable navigating ambiguity, influencing stakeholders, and fostering a high-performing, collaborative team environment. Egos are left at the door, you lead by example, with empathy, clarity, and confidence.

Your focus areas: 

• Set and maintain high standards for quality and technical execution. You will lead by example when it comes to the work and provide expert insight and actionable guidance that helps boost the quality of work.
• Apply your problem-solving skills to tackle cross-functional challenges. You will help develop and articulate strategic recommendations that align creative vision with project objectives, effectively communicating the value of these solutions to stakeholders.
• Demonstrate initiative by spotting opportunities for transformative change. Whether that’s championing a new design tool, refining a process, or identifying a new approach.
• Cultivate a strong, motivating presence. You will mentor and guide team members, facilitating the implementation of best practices and fostering a culture of continuous elevation where every team member is set up to succeed.
• Take ownership of the successful delivery of significant creative initiatives. You will ensure contributions align with project objectives and agency standards, measuring and improving the effectiveness of the work produced under your direction.

Skills and abilities:

• Experience leading creative teams and projects, with the ability to direct and empower the contributions of others to achieve collective impact.
• A deep understanding of how creative craft integrates with business strategy. You can independently present and advocate for creative approaches to internal leadership and senior clients.
• A portfolio that demonstrates not just high-quality execution, but the ability to define and drive the creative vision for major projects.
• You command a respected presence. You can effectively communicate vision, goals, and feedback, building team cohesion and driving collective progress.
• A history of initiating and driving the development of new processes or creative methods that have boosted capabilities and output.
• You thrive in a collaborative environment, capable of building consensus and gaining support for strategic initiatives across teams.
• Deep technical expertise in a primary discipline (e.g. Web/UI, Motion, 3D) with a solid understanding of how it integrates with other creative fields.

Bonus points:

• Experience mentoring junior to mid-level creatives.
• A background in both agency and in-house environments.
• A passion for sharing knowledge through workshops or internal talks.

We are an equal opportunity employer and believe our environment, ideas and work can only be its best if our team is representative of all the incredible diversity that exists in the world around us.

All Phantoms are welcomed to our team without regard to ethnicity, religion, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity.

• Pension Scheme
  To help set you up for later in life, we provide a secure pension scheme with Aviva, and will match your contributions up to 7%. 
• Wellbeing and Mental Health
  We care about your health and wellness and provide comprehensive private medical, dental, optical, hearing and mental health insurance with Vitality. 
• Training fund
  We’re all about being at the top of our game, and offer a dedicated annual training budget to support your personal development and upskilling.
• Personal development
  A support system of 1:1s, mentorship and personal development plans are a central part of your life at Phantom, providing support and opportunities to grow.
• Studio
  Our HQ is in the heart of Soho, designed to enhance collaboration and creativity, including flexible work areas, a killer event space and showers and towel service (for all you runners and cyclists).
• Flexible working
  We offer flexible working hours and the opportunity for work from home days.
• Annual leave
  Your leave allowance is above national standard, so you can enjoy some extra R&R time to spend as you wish!  
• Bonus leave days
  Once you’ve been a part of the Pham for 2 years, you’ll receive a bonus annual leave day each year until you hit 30 days. Just a little thanks for being such an important part of our team!
• Birthday day off
  In addition to your holiday allowance, you get your birthday day off which can be taken any day within your birthday month to celebrate in style.
• Enhanced parental leave
  We offer enhanced parental leave policies to support all of the Pham taking this step in growing their family. 
• Free snacks & drinks
  Enjoy a kitchen packed with snacks, treats, drinks, breakfast foods and coffee machine, to help yourself throughout the day.  
• High end equipment
  Our office is kitted out to enable you to do your very best work and support your wellbeing. We invest in Apple hardware, the latest software, standing desks, Vitra office chairs, high end screens and more. 
• Initiatives for proactive ideas
  Phantom is constantly evolving, and we love supporting new ideas and concepts within the team.
• End of year bonus
  At the discretion of Phantom, based on both personal and company performance.
• Cycle to work scheme
  Want to bike to work? We have teamed up with Cyclescheme to save you 25-39% when purchasing a bike and biking accessories.
• Special discounts
  As part of your Vitality insurance plan, we’ve included a great range of discount deals. Currently this includes discounted gym membership, free Apple watch, free Amazon Prime, discounted cinema tickets and much more.
• Dog-friendly
  Your approved, chill canine companion can join you at PHQ.
• Events, team days & parties
  We believe in celebrating our achievements! We’re known for hosting some killer parties and events. Some are for our Pham exclusively (like the end of year party), or within our industry. Others are in honour of our birthday, where we invite our friends, families and collaborators and celebrate another amazing year.
• Merch
  Our brand is our playground - we’re known for dropping collections featuring our very own Phantom that you’ll be able to pick from for free.
• Hobbies & R&D  
  Whether it’s synths and musical instruments, 3D printers, VR equipment, our library of books or gaming consoles, we have an amazing selection of incredible equipment at PHQ that is available for you to use - within your work and for fun!
• Phantom Phriday
  We end our week by taking a break from our screens and spending time sharing what we’ve been up to as a team - whether that’s the incredible work you’ve been doing, or even your recent holiday snaps, it’s an amazing way to share knowledge and learnings as a team, and have some fun while we’re at it. 
• Phriday drinks
  After Phantom Phriday, we head to our bar area for drinks, pizza and a catch up with fellow Phantoms.

Credentials are one thing, but talent is another. If you feel this role for you but don’t meet every requirement listed here, we’d still love to hear from you.